3.10.05

F I R S TP R E V233NEXTLAST

Glide Memorial, The Tenderloin
In 1963 when Reverend Cecil Williams took over at the Glide Memorial Methodist, the rundown church, in the city's Tenderloin, had a congregation of just 40. Williams then began to reach out in a completely nonjudgmental way to everyone in the blighted neighborhood, including gays, the homeless, drug abusers, and prostitutes, at a time when these groups were outside the fringes of society and traditional churches. Soon the works of Williams and his wife and Poet Laureate, Janice Mirikitani, began to attract hundreds of worshippers. Glide Memorial currently provides housing services, drug counseling, a children's center, job-skills training, and even HIV testing. The church's thousands of volunteers feed over 1 million meals a year to the hungry. Today Reverend Williams and Ms. Mirikitani are two of the most respected and beloved people in San Francisco and the church now has 10,000 members and draws over 2,500 to its lively gospel-jazz Sunday services.
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